


A Different Conversation

by playingaaronburr



Series: Exquisitely Damaged [2]
Category: American Horror Story: Hotel
Genre: Conversations, Hope, Hotel Cortez, Love, Main Character Death, Medium - Freeform, Other, Romance, Trans Character, True Love, american horror story - Freeform, ghost - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-26
Updated: 2019-01-26
Packaged: 2019-10-16 10:49:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17548256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/playingaaronburr/pseuds/playingaaronburr
Summary: He turned to Liz, his face almost mournful.What could he say to her?I love you?I’m sorry?I’m here?I’m so proud?I’ve always been here – by your side!?But he couldn’tHe had failed her.If the past few weeks had taught him anything it was that he had failed her – left her to deal with the mess he had created.





	A Different Conversation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Naveah (Because you look fabulous in that skirt we picked out)](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Naveah+%28Because+you+look+fabulous+in+that+skirt+we+picked+out%29).



Tristan leaned against the room's door as Iris slammed it shut, smiling as he watched them settle in.

He had met a lot of Mediums before the Cortez, women who could “speak to the other side,” but this one seemed like the real deal so the ghost was content to wait until she said something.

They talked for a moment and Tristan felt pride grow in his chest as he watched Liz move around the room – a hopeful smile on her face.

“ _She’s beautiful in red_ ,” he mused, a coy smile on his face.

Billy Dean turned as if she heard him before turning back to her conversation.

The Medium, Billy Dean, he thought he heard Iris call her, interrupted his reverence with a statement.

“So many voices”

Well, she got one thing right.

He’d only been here for a few months and any thought of sleep was always interrupted by the screams of someone who’d gotten trapped here.

If anything it only made him want to grab Liz, hold her tighter.

Billy Dean continued to move about the room – her hands stroking the covers of the place where he’d died.

A part of him felt jealous – angry – that she was where he wanted to be.

Alive.

And with Liz, close enough to touch.

“Oh, oh I feel something,” Billy Dean whispered, her hands touching the wall where his blood had been.

Tristan felt his entire body pulse, like a heartbeat, and he had to stop for a moment wrap his hand around his neck.

To prove that he was still alive.

Or at least there.

“A very masculine energy,” Billy Dean said with a knowing smile.

Tristan rolled his eyes and flopped on the bed, glaring up at her.

She turned to him, a soft smile on her face, “He’s here”

Tristan turned to Liz, almost giggling like mad, at the look of awe on her face, and then he smiled, his own tears welling up when he saw Liz’s eyes grow soft.

“We seek you with loving hearts and open minds-“

“ _Oh, just_ get _on with it lady_!” Tristan groaned, pulling a cigarette out of his pocket, “ _There are_ no _cameras around for you to get off on_!”

Billy stopped for a moment and gave a quiet huff at the interruption.

“Tristan,” she murmured, “Hello!”

“’ _Sup_ ” “Tristan, said. 

"I’m here with Liz-“

“ _I’m aware of that – I’m dead,_ not _blind Billy-boy_!”

“Do you have any messages for her?” Billy asked, trying to ignore the spirit’s attitude.

Some were ruder than others. Especially those who, like Tristan, were “tough” men face-to-face with a loved one.

She gave him a coxing smile as he turned to Liz, his face almost mournful.

What was he supposed to say to her?

I love you?

I’m sorry?

I’m here?

I’m so proud?

All I’ve wanted to do is talk to you, to kiss you, to touch you!

I’ve always been here – by your side!?

But he couldn’t say _any_ of that. 

Because he had failed her.

If the past few weeks had taught him anything it was that he had failed her – left her to deal with the mess he had created.

Billy’s face grew sad as he watched the spirit, Tristan, watch Liz. His face filled with uncompromising love and terrible sadness.

“What?” Liz asked, face hopeful, “What does he say?”

“ _No_ ” Tristan whispered.

“No” Billy Dean echoed.

The confusion was clear in Iris’s voice, “What do you mean, “No”?”

Liz’s face was filled with devastation as she stood.

Billy turned to Tristan again and took the shake of his head for what it was.

“He doesn’t want to talk.”

“What do you mean?” Iris asked, still confused, “He’s talking to you.”

“He doesn’t want to talk _to me?_ ” Liz whispered in disbelief. 

Tristan stood, shaking his head.

“He’s been here all along and he doesn’t want to talk _to me_!?”

Liz shook her head, tear running down her face, smearing the mascara on her eyes.

“Because he blames me, my lov- my love killed him”

Tristan shook his head again – the devastation clear on his face.

There was a lot he could deal with, death wasn’t even that bad as long as Liz was around, but he couldn’t handle her blaming herself.

Especially when it wasn’t her fault.

He walked over to Liz and gently, gently, gently, laid his hands just above her face.

She stopped then, almost in shock.

He wasn’t going to make himself visible yet.

Liz was alive, she was still breathing.

And she was going to have a great life.

But with this maybe he could stop her fears, at least until she was in his arms again.

So he gently, gently, gently, laid his hands just above her face.

“ _Tell her_ ,” he whispered, speaking to Billy Dean. “ _Tell her that-_ ”

“I love the ground under her feet, and the air over her head, and everything she touches and every word she says. I love all of her looks, and all of her actions and her entirely and all together,” Billy Dean whispered.

Billy looked confused as she turned to Liz, “Whatever our souls are made of, hers and mine are the same?”

Liz’s mouth made a simple “o” and she began to cry again when she finally felt the cold touch of someone’s hands against her cheek.

Even though there was no one in front of her.

“He says-"

“ _I love you, Lizzy, more than you, or anyone in the world, thought possible,_ ”Tristan cried, leaning into her arms. 

Billy Dean tried to slow down Tristan’s rambling – trying to keep up.

“He says, “That he is-"

" _So, so proud of you, of everything you’ve done and that no matter, what you have to keep on living, for me._ ”

Billy felt tears well up in her eyes.

“He says, Billy cleared her throat, he says-"

“ _Don’t wait for me,"_ Tristan voiced cracked - his throat filled with heartbreak. 

And then Tristan leaned down and kissed her, held her for just a moment – his lips against her cheek, her nose, her forehead, her mouth.

Before he disappeared again.

Leaving her to live.

Until he saw her again.

**Author's Note:**

> Another Liz/Tristan story! I really love these two - I wish they had had a longer story arch and more scenes! So to compensate for the directors (*cough* *cough*) I've decided to keep writing these - mainly because my own best friend recently came out as transgender and I love the fact that her new name, her real name, is Naveah.  
> So this is for you, sweetie! With love! 
> 
> \- -  
> Also book quotes are from Wuthering Heights and Hamlet - Books Tristan was given by Liz! <3 <3


End file.
